If you’ve been busy with house cleaning (and everything else involved in today’s hectic lifestyle), you’re probably a bit worn out after it all. Your body needs as much attention as your home does to keep yourself feeling fresh and sparkling. There’s nothing like feeling pampered to refresh you, so why not try a home spa, which ensures that you will use only natural products on your skin and will cost a fraction of the price of a professional spa treatment.
These natural spa treatments won’t involve bathing in mud or anything really messy like that. After all, if you have to give the bathroom one heck of a cleaning after your spa session is over, you’re going to undo all the good of the spa treatments. If you’re going to feel revitalised and recharged, why waste your energy cleaning up what got you revitalised.
And remember: making and collecting what you need for a home spa is part of the fun.
To get the full benefit out of your home spa session, you will need a lockable bathroom, a tray or rack to hold all your home-made lotions, potions and scrubs, and a willing helper to give you a massage. If you want to re-create the ambience of a professional spa, candles or other low lighting (use a 25 W bulb in the bathroom rather than buying a special (read expensive) mood light), and relaxing instrumental music will do the trick. However, relaxing in the bath with any music you like and a paperback is just as beneficial.
Your spa will consist of three main parts: a facial, a bath and a massage, with the bath coming in the middle of the facial. The only really potentially messy part of this process is the massage, so put thick towels down on the bed or floor to soak up any oil that goes where you don’t want it – wash them in hot water to get the oil out afterwards.
The first part of the facial is cleaning it with a cleansing oil-based lotion. To make this, combine 10 ml wheatgerm or avocado oil with 30 ml of sesame oil and 30 ml of sunflower or almond oil. Add in about 5 drops of essential oil to add a bit of scent, and shake it all together. Dab it on the face and work it in well with a piece of cotton wool, a tissue or a soft cotton cloth, then wipe off with a fresh cloth, etc. This cleans off the surface dirt without stripping the natural oils of the skin.
Exfoliation comes next. You can do this by physical scrubbing with the inside of an avocado peel, a handful of coarse salt or sugar, oatmeal (cold porridge counts) or with a loofah. Or you can do it chemically with a mild fruit acid – kiwifruit pulp and pineapple juice are the strongest, but apple pulp and lemon juice work just as well. Or combine the two with a paste of salt and either lemon juice or kiwifruit pulp. Scrub the paste over the face and neck, then rinse off with cold water.
Steam the face next by draping a towel over your head and leaning over a bowl of boiling water. You can add some herbs or essential oils to the steam for extra fragrance and the aromatherapy effects of the oil. Don’t get too close to the water and skip this step if you have thread veins in your cheeks.
Now run the bath. While body oils are beautifully moisturizing, they are a pain to clean up afterwards. Whole milk powder gives the emollient qualities without being a pig to clean up and has that luxurious Cleopatra touch. Other good additions to a bath to improve and cleanse the skin include 2 cups of vinegar (cheap version) or 2 cups of wine (more expensive version, depending on the wine you choose), a cup of sea salt or a mixture of ingredients made in a bath bag. While the bath is running, prepare a face mask and heat up about a cup or so of olive oil for a hair treatment. Also lay out other bits and pieces that you will need for your bath, such as a face flannel, a razor if you plan to shave your legs, a loofah, a nice drink of green tea and a good book (OK – a trashy paperback). If you want to treat your hands, you can give them a “mask” too, but wear rubber gloves over the hand mask.
Work the warm oil into your hair and cover it with either a thick towel (which you will need to wash like anything in hot soapy water afterwards) or clingfilm to allow the oils to work into the hair. Slip into the bath and apply your mask. Now relax with the book, sipping green tea. Use the loofah, a natural bristle brush or the inside of an avocado skin to exfoliate your legs before shaving them (if you’re going to) and scrub anything else you can reach and want to treat – you may need a helper to do your back properly.
Rinse the mask off and rinse the excess oil out of the hair with a shower attachment once getting out of the bath. Dab yourself dry with a thick, fluffy towel and slip on a bathrobe. The facial now continues with an astringent or toning lotion. To make toning lotion, you can either make a herbal vinegar, use witch-hazel lotion, or dab on some cooled chamomile tea. To make astringent witch-hazel lotion, mix 1 t dried witch hazel with 1 t of dried yarrow and 1 t of dried sage, and put these to brew for 15 minutes, covered, in boiling water. Allow this to cool before using. To make herbal vinegar, steep the herbs of your choice (lavender is ideal) for a few weeks in vinegar before straining and bottling.
